Aston Martin recalls cars over Daimler component fault

Aston Martin has recalled thousands of cars over a fault in its steering columns supplied by its strategic partner Daimler.

The luxury car manufacturer is recalling all 3,873 of its DB11 sports cars manufactured between November 2015 and December 2017 over a fault in the upper steering column that could cause the airbag to unintentionally deploy.

The component was manufactured by Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, and appears to be the same problem that led the firm to recall more than 1m Mercedes vehicles in October last year.

An Aston Martin spokesperson told SM the recall was a “precautionary action”. Daimler has not responded to a request for comment.

Aston Martin said it will fix the fault fixed free of charge in a process that takes just under two hours.

Daimler signed a technical partnership with the Aston Martin in 2013, in which it received a 5% stake in UK based company, and was a key technical partner in the production of the DB11. Andy Palmer, CEO of Aston Martin, was once quoted as having said the partnership was part of the reason he joined the firm.

“The decision to take and embed the [Mercedes] S Class electrical system, which is a fundamental decision to all our new cars, means that we’re absolutely no longer laggard when it comes to the electrical system,” he told the Verge last November.

The DB11, with prices starting at £149,655, was cited by Mark Wilson, the firm’s CFO, as the car that kickstarted the firm’s financial turnaround. Last November the firm posted its first full-year of profit since it was sold by Ford in 2008.

The fault is unrelated to the Takata airbag scandal, in which faulty airbags supplied by the Japanese firm Takata were linked to 18 deaths and led to the motor industry’s largest voluntary recall, affecting 100m vehicles from brands including Toyota, Honda, BMW and Nissan.